Senator's Reid and Kyl Send Open Letter to AG

U.S. Senator Harry Reid was one part of a strongly worded letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder asking the Department of Justice (DoJ) to clear up its position on online gambling. That really would come as no surprise if it wasn’t for the co-author of the letter, U.S. Senator Jon Kyl. To many online players Senator Kyl is the ultimate villain as he orchestrated the last minute addition and of the UIGEA to the Port Security bill.

It has been said lately that Senator Kyl, who is set to retire this year, as softened his stance over internet gambling. It comes as a surprise to many however that he was a coauthor of such a letter. The strongly worded letter does not address any changes to current federal law but does ask the DOJ to “pursue aggressively and consistently those offering Internet gambling in the Unites States” and address two further concerns “the spread of efforts to legalize intra-state Internet gambling and the spread of efforts to offer such intra-state Internet gambling through state-sponsored lotteries.”

The first part of the letter specifically talks about the years that Internet poker sites operated in the open with no apparent repercussions from law enforcement, specifically saying:

“Leading up to the indictments, this lack of activity from law enforcement led to a significant and growing perception that operating internet poker and other internet gambling did not violate US laws, or at least that the Department of Justice thought that the case was uncertain enough that it chose not to pursue enforcement actions”.